Thursday, September 21, 2006

The Translation of Benedict's Speech

We all know that Pope Benedict got in a bit of hot water for giving a speech (in German) with a line quoted from a 14th century emperor on the nature of Islam. What's interesting is how Benedict introduced that quote. According to the first English translations of the speech, here's what Benedict said:

[H]e addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

This professor quickly pointed out that in the original German, Benedict actually said: "in erstaunlich schroffer, uns überraschend schroffer Form ganz einfach." Correctly translated, this would be:

[H]e addresses his interlocutor with an astonishing brusqueness, for us an astounding brusqueness, bluntly on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

Note that Benedict made it clear that "to us" the statement he's quoting is of "astounding brusqueness." This indicates that Benedict was doing quite a bit more to distance himself from that quotation.

Taking a cue from the Congressional Record, the pope appears to have revised and extended his published remarks since the controversy arose. The speech, as given (click here for a copy the BBC obtained from the Vatican and posted online Sept. 15) characterized Manuel II's comments about the prophet Mohammed—the comments that have now given worldwide offense, because the pope initially put little distance between Manuel II's views and his own—as being of "startling brusqueness" (or, if you prefer a translation from the original German made available by The Catholic World News, "somewhat brusque"). On the Vatican's Web site, however, someone has now added the boldfaced insert, "a brusqueness which leaves us astounded." If you scroll to the bottom of this Hot Doc, you'll see it described as merely a "provisional" text, to be improved upon and footnoted later—later, in this case, meaning after the pope gave the speech. As damage control, the inserted language strikes me as insufficient. It is possible, after all, to be "astounded" by something that one nonetheless wouldn't dispute. Better to substitute "offended" for "astounded." Hey fellas, want to take one more whack at this?

Timothy Noah is precisely wrong. He claims to be describing the speech "as given," but his link to the BBC's site merely goes to an English translation -- the inaccurate one.

Thanks to the Internet, however, you can view Pope Benedict delivering the speech in German. Fast forward to 2:48, and you'll hear Benedict pronouncing the words, ""in erstaunlich schroffer, uns überraschend schroffer Form ganz einfach." These are the very words that, according to the professor I cite above, are correctly translated as, "with an astonishing brusqueness, for us an astounding brusqueness, bluntly."

Thus, Timothy Noah's entire claim falls apart. Contrary to Noah's claim, the original German was not altered "after the pope gave the speech," nor did the Pope "revise[] and extend[] his published remarks since the controversy arose." Instead, the "astounding brusqueness" language was in the original speech -- as given -- and it was the original English translation that seems to have been incomplete. The translation may have been altered, but only in the interest of greater conformity to the German original.

UPDATE: Slate has now issued a correction, here and here. Credit is due to Eugene and Sasha Volokh as well.

1 Comments:

Thanks, Mr. Buck, for posting this. It's gotten me some attention. One thing I ought to clarify. You noted:

"After the professor pointed out the incomplete translation, the Vatican changed its version of the English translation accordingly, so as to be more accurate."

This is chronologically accurate, but I don't know that the Vatican was aware of my corrective work. I did joke afterwards that the Vatican must be reading my blog, but I think that anyone with a knowledge of English and German -- and striving for accuracy -- would have made a similar translation ... which is probably what happened.